The Vaughn Grey Cronicles, Book 1: The last Vaughn Grey

Detective Thick N Juicy

(This part of the story is being told in Detective Rameros perspective)

Fuck me. That's all I have to say. I clench my fist and put it up to my forehead. "So where's the body located?" I asked Sasha as I removed my fist and tossed the sheets aside carelessly, disturbing the sleep of the redhead I had drunkenly invited back to my apartment last night. I looked towards the clock on my nightstand and noticed it was 6 in the morning and I had slept for about 4 hours. I took a deep breath as I waited for Sasha to respond. It was going to be a long day. I lit a half smoked cigarette from the ashtray on my nightstand, switching the lamp on in the process. Sasha told me she'd text me the address and that I needed to be there as soon as possible. I said ok and hung up before she had a chance to respond. I stared off into the distance enjoying the remaining hits of my cigarette. I felt a pair of eyes on my back and turned to see my mystery redhead blinking up at me. She was alright. Shoulder length red hair, blue eyes. She was a little dull for my taste though. Not physically, but more of a simple kind of dull. Simple minded that is. From what I can remember from last night, conversation isn't really her thing, but instead spreading her legs. Which is fine by me. I just hope she isn't expecting me to make this a regular thing. I already have enough problems trying to convince Sasha that what happened between us was a one time thing.

"What are you thinking about this early?" She asked me with a wink whilst wiggling her eyebrows.

"About how I need get ready for work." I said looking at her expectantly. Hoping she gets the hint. She must have because her face fell and her cheeks became red. Probably due to either anger or humiliation. Which one, I'm not sure. Most likely a mix of both. She scurried out of bed and threw her clothes on storming out of my room and slamming the door in the process. So definitely anger. I chuckled to myself as I tossed my sweat pants on and made my way out of the bedroom and into my kitchen to make coffee. My apartment is just as you would expect a single man's pad to look. Minimal decor. Mostly blacks and whites. A coffee machine. A couch. A TV. A refrigerator stocked full of pizza rolls and gin. Only the important stuff. It smells just as it looks, empty. The only signs of life being the bed I never make and the stack of dishes I've now accumulated in my sink. I grabbed my cup of coffee and headed back to my room to indulge myself with a 5 minute shower. I walked into my room noticing that it smelt like my mystery redhead. Was she a hippie? Is that....hippie smell? Guess I'll never know now. Walking past the foot of my shamefully messed up bed, I notice how grungy my sheets are starting to look..Great more laundry. My phone dings from my night stand and I walk over to check it. Its Sasha with the address for the homicide I'm going to be tasked with solving. It's only 10 minutes away. Cool looks like I can make it a 7 minute shower. I walk into the master bathroom and turn the faucet on, waiting for the water to heat up I strip my clothes and toss them into an over flowing hamper to the left of my sink. I switch the handle to shower and hop in. After my shower I toss a blue button up shirt on and some black slacks. Grabbing my coffee and badge I make my way towards the stair case, not wanting to deal with Miss Hoffman whose door just so happens to be closest to the elevator. She's a spicy little thing. With her long blonde and grey hair and giant mouth. Attractive but over talkative and over friendly. She was well into her late forties and on numerous occasions did she make it a point to let me know her husband would be out of town. Yuck. I shivered at the thought. I had made it to the bottom floor and pushed open the door leading to the outside world. It wasn't so bad today. The air was crisp and lightly nicking at my nose and ears. I walked across the street to my buildings parking garage and pressed the start engine button on my keychain. My black Suburban roared to life and I quickly made my way over to it. Opening the door I slide into my seat to try and mentally prepare myself for this day. I pull out of the parking garage and am soon on my way. I pull up about 20 minutes later because why wouldn't there be traffic at 6am on a f*****g Saturday. Sasha is impatiently pacing back and forth as I get out and start retrieving my things from my Suburban. I walk over to her and when she notices me she smiles but not a nice smile.

"Hey Damon, how was your night?" She asks, accusingly I might add.

"Sash, we've been over this. This is work and what happened between us was a one time thing." I tried to be friendly with Sasha. After all she is my partner and I would hate to be the center of attention on some office gossip. Sasha looks like she's about to argue but our morgue geek walks over and interrupts us. Thank you morgue geek.

" This one is real nasty Romero. The guy that did this is one sick son of a b***h. " he pats my shoulder with his hand and gives me one of those sorry-this-is-super-bad kinda looks and pushes me forward. I follow keeping at his pace and he begins to fill me in.

" Took place sometime late last night or early this morning. Body couldn't have been dead for more than 5 hours. Female. Uhh cause of death being, we're not entirely sure because she seems to have a significant amount of wounds to her face and abdominal area. Something I can inform you on once I've preformed her autopsy. She seems to be in her late teens or early 20's. I also noticed a few scars on her arms and legs that seem to date back before..ya know.. her untimely death in a smelly alley." He looks over at me and pushes his lips in a thin line raising his eyebrows before smacking my shoulder again and bending down to uncover the body before me. The first thing I notice is the windows looking over the alley in the apartment buildings on either side of me. Maybe someone saw something. The second thing I notice is the empty dumpster pressed up against the building to my right. I turn to morgue geek.

"Who called it in?" He looks up at me and furrows his brows together like he's trying to remember.

"Uhhh, I believe it was the garbage man." He uncertainly responds

"Mmm, well for his sake I hope he didn't empty this dumpster after finding her body." I licked the top row of teeth in my mouth and put my hands on my hips, Looking down I realize what morgue geek meant when he said it was a real nasty one. The woman laying on the ground before me was barely recognizable. Her face was swollen and purple. There were gashes and blood trails on every surface of her face. Not one spot left untouched. Her long blonde hair was now stained red. The pool of blood that seemed to surround her like a gaping black hole, swallowing up anything in its path was now starting to dry up in certain areas that met the concrete below her. I noticed the scars that were mentioned earlier. To me, they appeared to be self inflicted. There was a rhythm to them. A pattern. I'd have to have the geek squad fill me in on that after the autopsy. She wore a short black mini dress with strappy black heels. They were cheap, most people wouldn't notice but being a detective, I made sure to make note of every last detail. I wondered where her purse was--, morgue geek interrupted me from my thoughts.

"I actually dont think he did, I believe everything was bagged and taken to the lab due to a bloody rag that was found in there. Captain wants this one solved immediately and is making sure no stone is left un turned."

"Good, do you know where Sasha is?" I asked him looking around the crime scene

"I believe she is talking to potential witnesses in the complex to your left." I nodded and turned on my heels to walk to the building on the right. I walked in and immediately smelled muffins. How delightful. To bad my appetite is long gone. I decide to start my questioning on the top floor. So I hop in the elevator. Hmm. Clicking the button for the 4th floor I lose myself in my thoughts. I wondered if the little blonde from the alley lived here and if so what floor? Maybe she had a roommate? A friend? Why was she even in an alley at that hour. It was a dead end alley anyway. So realistically she was probably forced into the alley. Which means that passing cars and people from other buildings might have seen her go into it. Ding. Here we are. I take a left and walk to the end of the hallway at room 4F. I raise my hand to knock. When I get no response I knock again letting them know who I was.

"Hello? My names detective Romero, we've got a couple of questions we'd like to ask you regarding an incident in the alley next to your building." I say loud enough for whoever's inside to hear but kind enough not to scare.

"Coming!" I hear a sweet little voice chirp from the other side. I hear shuffling around and soon the sound of a deadbolt unlocking. The door flung open and before me stood a very attractive woman. I'd say around 5'3 -5'4 in height. 125 pounds max. She had long dark hair. Wavy. A heart shaped face, olive toned skin and was wearing a rather revealing short satin black robe. I wonder what she had on underneath? At that moment she looked up and my eyes instantly shot to hers. Creepy. Red eyes huh? She must be one of those emo kids who wear the contacts and lick each others blood. Bet the s*x would be kinky.

"Hi, Can I help you?" She blurts out clearly impatient about something, I raised my eyebrow at her curiously and began to speak.

" My names detective Romero, we're investigating a murder that took place sometime last night in the alley next to your building." I informed her while gauging her face for a reaction.

" I uh, had no idea. Who was it? Was it someone in the building?" She asked awkwardly. That's odd most people askes what happened? Or how? Ok well moving on.

"We haven't ID'd the victim yet. Do you mind if I come in and go over some routine questions with you about anything you might had heard or seen in the upcoming days before the murder and during." She stared at me for a second causing me to nervously run my fingers through my hair before meeting my gaze and saying "I didn't hear anything." She glanced at something to her left and then looked back at me

"I'm actually late for work, and I really need to finish getting ready or my boss will have my ass." My eyes may have widened in surprise at how blatantly unaffected this woman was by the fact that a woman was murdered right outside her building. I quickly composed my self and started looking for my business card in my pockets. I handed one to her and she looked it over. Smirking to herself about something.

"Well if you can think of anything please don't hesitate to call." She gave me a nod and started closing her door. "It was a rather violent crime and I'd like to get this man off the streets as soon as possible." I add, because I'm 100% sure this isn't the last time I'll be speaking with ol red eyes over here. She nodded again and closes the door. I stood there for a second hearing her rest her back against the door I scratch the back of my neck and make my way to the next apartment. Looking back at red eyes room as I raised my hand to knock. What are you hiding from me red eyes? I asked myself mentally before knocking on red eyes neighbors door...